


TMST*

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic [46]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Episode: s03e10-e11 The Return, Gen, Pets, Prompt Fill, Turtles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-30 01:36:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6403369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>LJ Comment Fic for Pets Day prompt: <i>Stargate Atlantis, Carson Beckett + wee turtles.</i></p><p>In which Carson is living a version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	TMST*

The turtles came to Carson from a well-meaning former student. Gayle had always been earnest, and big-hearted, but unfortunately she’d fallen in with a group the regularly protested animal testing. In and of itself, the protesting wasn’t a bad thing. Carson knew medical testing was a necessity, but there was no reason that lab animals needed to be tortured in the process; humane testing provided results that were just as viable. Gayle’s group, though, attacked lab technicians, broke into private facilities, and was responsible for releasing hundreds of potentially deadly lab animals into the populace.

“I remember you said you like turtles,” Gayle had said when she showed up unexpectedly on Carson’s doorstep. “These little guys were swimming around in some kind of green slime. I thought maybe you could rehabilitate them and release them back to the wild.”

Carson hadn’t bothered pointing out that the turtles had likely been born in captivity, and probably purchased from a pet store. And maybe he was a bit soft-hearted himself, because he took the baby turtles and didn’t turn Gayle in to the police, though she did have to listen to a lengthy lecture about the inherent dangers of her group’s activities.

The turtles were quarantined until Carson could determine whether or not they’d been infected with anything dangerous. They hadn’t. A month after Gayle brought him the wee things, they were set up in a thirty gallon terrarium fully tricked out with everything box turtles needed to thrive in captivity.

“Here we are now,” he said, dropping some live crickets into the terrarium. “Leave some for the others, Fergus. That’s a good lad.”

Carson wasn’t one to brag, but he was certain his turtles were unusually intelligent. He’d catch them seemingly watching the television when it was on, or bobbing their wee heads in time with the music on the radio. It was surely his imagination, or possibly the result of spending too much time alone. As dangerous as Atlantis could be, and as often as he’d feared for his safety and that of his friends, Carson missed it. The turtles were sweet, but no real substitute for the friends he’d left behind when the Asurans kicked them all out of the city.

And then he had dinner with John and Rodney and Elizabeth, and the situation changed. Carson didn’t hesitate to back them up, to return to Pegasus and take Atlantis back. But the second he was settled back in, he sent for the turtles. They had to endure another period of quarantine at the SGC before they were cleared, and Carson was under strict orders to keep the turtles in the city and not take them to the mainland, or any other world where they might have a negative impact on the local fauna.

“I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” Rodney said dismissively. He stared down into the terrarium and wrinkled up his nose. “Do they always smell like that?”

“Yes, Rodney, they do.” Carson couldn’t find it in him to be mad, though. He’d missed the wee things, though they’d gotten quite a sight larger in his absence. They looked healthy, though, and even shy Bonnie seemed happy to see him.

“You need to get out more,” Rodney said. “It’s not natural to have this kind of attachment to reptiles.”

“Says the man with a picture of his cat next to the bed,” John said. 

“Cats can be cuddled. What the hell do you do with a turtle? Watch it chew lettuce for an hour?”

Carson put his hand in the terrarium and Duncan crawled right into it, nudging at Carson’s thumb with his head. “Turtles are plenty cuddly. At least, mine are.”

“Well, enjoy your time with Kermit and company. Let’s go, Sheppard. It’s lunchtime.” Rodney dragged John out of the room. Carson just shook his head.

“Don’t pay any attention to Rodney,” he told the turtles. They’d all gathered round his hand, bumping their heads against his fingers. “You’re smart, lovely things, aren’t you? Yes, you are.”

He wondered if he should move the terrarium to the infirmary, where his patients might take some comfort in watching the wee babies. Turtles didn’t do anything quickly, and watching them was a good way to slow things down for the watcher. Respiration, heart rate, even brain waves. Perhaps he could do a study on the viability of turtles in animal-assisted therapy.

“Da.”

Carson looked up, but he was still alone in his room. He tapped at his ear piece with his free hand. “This is Dr. Beckett. Did someone call me?”

He was on the open channel, and received only a chorus of negatives.

“Da!”

Carson winced at a sudden pain in his finger. He scowled down at the turtles. “Oi! Angus! No biting!”

The turtle looked up at him and opened his mouth. “Da.”

It occurred to Carson, much later when he was certain he hadn’t been hallucinating or dreaming or under the influence of an unknown biological, that perhaps he should’ve been more curious about the green slime Gayle said the turtles had been floating around in.

Especially when Angus’ second word was _Atlantis_.

**Author's Note:**

> * Teenage Mutant Science Turtles


End file.
